Genesis BCS at the BBB Awards for Excellence
Employee satisfaction correlates with the success of your business. Think of it like a clock. One can’t properly tell what time it is if all the gears in the clock aren’t working. If some pieces are rusted, broken, or just delayed, the entire system falls apart. Same thing with a business. Level of happiness truly affects one’s outlook on life, so if your employees are not happy at work and with the work they do for your business, then sooner or later the business will suffer. Below is a list of the most crucial aspects to creating the best work environment for your employees.
You’re the boss, Differentiate time for work and play – This factor is heavily dependent on the type of environment you have at your business. But typically, the best way to go about it is, as the decision maker, you are in charge and it needs to stay that way. This is a tough balance to achieve but if the line isn’t clearly drawn between “friend” and “boss,” that’s where issues arise due to inconsistencies. The worst thing you can do is try to be a buddy one day, and then a strict boss the next. The best way to go about it is to have open communication, but to also be more of an advisor and less of a peer.
Communicate and inform – Managers manage – that’s their role. They oversee the staff, set goals, and ensure that those goals are met. One thing that most managers are guilty of is that they focus too much on the aspect of overlooking/controlling, and forget the fact that they also need to take the time to keep employees informed on what’s going on with the company, the industry, etc. Employees don’t appreciate being left in the dark, so sharing important information among all in the company is necessary in ensuring effective communication and helps strengthen the feeling that each employee at the company is an integral part to its success.
Employee ownership – It’s one thing to hire someone who is skilled and driven, it’s another thing to maintain that drive. The way to ensure that your employees continue to strive to make your business succeed is to make sure they feel like it is also their business. Employees need to feel some sort of ownership and responsibility when they come into work everyday. This is important because when employees truly care about what they are doing and feel that it matters, they will work that much harder. This is all a part of this feeling of, “this is mine,” which will reinforce a sense of taking ownership and seeing through that any task that comes with the territory is successful. People don’t like to fail or show poor work when it comes to something that reflects upon themselves, so if your employees take ownership of the work they do and don’t just feel like they are performing work for those they work for, that’s when the quality of work output truly grows.
Forego the mundane. Assign more responsibility – Let’s admit it, work isn’t always fun and interesting. Sometimes, it does get dull and repetitive time to time. These are the times when communication is beyond important. As a decision maker, you need to see if, when, and how you can stir things up for your employees and see if there are other new and interesting tasks that you can give your employees in order to break the monotony. You can go about it in various ways such as assigning new projects, creating employee teams for various tasks, or even going about it one-on-one with your employees and see what else they could contribute to the company. In doing so, employees can voice their strengths, weaknesses, and overall even learn new skills and become more confident in themselves when able to wear new and different hats at work. Some business owners do feel that breaking the system they already have in place by assigning their staff with more responsibility or roles might do more harm than good, but in all honesty, it is less of a risk than dealing with bored and unstimulated employees that aren’t proud of the work they do.
Don’t micromanage adults – This goes hand in hand with previous points, but definitely needs emphasis. The number one issue employees have with their company and their managers/supervisors is the fact that they feel like they are being micromanaged (THINK: the Office Space movie). As a decision maker, make sure that you are treating your employees with respect and understanding. After all, you hired adults to work for your company and entrusted them with the responsibility in ensuring that they will contribute to the success of your business. That is a lot of responsibility that you wouldn’t bestow upon children – so don’t treat your employees as if they are toddlers that constantly need to be hand-held and watched. Trust and communication is key here. Unless you hired children to work at your company, don’t treat the people that work for you as if they can’t do their job, because remember, you hired them for a reason. Hire the right people, trust that they can do their job, and don’t micromanage.
Money is a great motivator, but not the only one – Salary, commission, bonuses, compensation packages, – they’re all great motivators. But they really should just icing on a cake; a way to show your employees that you care about their well-being. It should not necessarily be the reason behind an employee’s reason to work for you. The real motivator should be the challenges at work that push them to do their best everyday and the feeling of being a valuable part of a quality team that will recognize their contribution. So aside from making sure your employees are getting compensated for their work, it’s just as important, if not more important, to make sure the work that they do is challenging, interesting, and has a genuine drive to succeed behind it; all of which can be instilled by a dedicated boss.